


Timber

by EstelleDusk



Series: BadAss Robotnik Agents [2]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Genre: Bot likes to play games with his agents, Other, POV Original Character, vague references and implications to medical stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:35:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25713658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EstelleDusk/pseuds/EstelleDusk
Summary: This is a short backstory excerpt of Agent Timber, one of Robotnik's favorite agents, he's even taken to calling the man Tim on occasion. Mostly told from the POV of the ex-husband.
Relationships: Agent Evergreen/Agent Timber (past)
Series: BadAss Robotnik Agents [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1775713
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8





	Timber

**Author's Note:**

> I went through the movie some time ago and came up with names for all the seen agents, here's the twitter thread: https://twitter.com/EstelleDusk/status/1268452091930071041?s=20
> 
> Agent Evergreen DOES NOT have a spot on that thread as he is a complete OC and was born in my fic Safeguard when I needed a throwaway name and hadn't yet committed to some fic related things

Evergreen had once been one of the Robotnik Agents. One of the mad dogs barely leashed by the Doctor’s hands. And he had been married to another agent, they had been a regular Bonnie and Clyde before they fell into the Doctor’s hands. They had agreed to the deal because of their kid. Timber had been a ward of the state growing up, before their shared crimes, and didn’t want that for their kid, and Evergreen had agreed to not wanting that shit for the little gremlin.

Everything had been great for them for a while.

Sure, they didn’t legally exist anymore, and legally their kid was a ward of the state with parents that died together for their crimes. But the little gremlin had grown up wandering the halls of Robotnik Enterprises, playing with their parents’ things, politely asking the Doctor to see the badniks blow up a thing. The Doctor seemed to enjoy that, and rarely complained about the sticky hands touching everything.

But somewhere along the years, Evergreen had fallen out of love with Timber. He hadn’t even realized it until Timber had nervously come up to him and said he wasn’t a woman. And the idiot that Evergreen was? The first thing he said had been, “I want a divorce.”

Oh and he regretted it instantly. He watched his then-husband’s face fall, nod, and walk away. The more fool Evergreen was for just letting Timber walk away then. He shouldn’t have done that.

He definitely knew he shouldn’t have said a single word besides “ok” when barely ten minutes later, he found himself picked up by the badniks and heard the Doctor’s gleeful voice over the speakers saying he was due for target practice.

He hadn’t been allowed to see his kid until everything got sorted out between him and Timber. The Doctor had happily played babysitter while he and his then-husband argued and screamed. They sorted everything out. Evergreen made it clear that he didn’t want a divorce because of who Timber was, he honestly didn’t mind, he just didn’t love that man as a spouse anymore, and hadn’t for some time now.

That might have been worse.

Falling out of love with someone can’t really be fixed, especially since Evergreen still loved Timber, platonically, as a best friend. Nowadays, years after the shitshow, Evergreen is fairly sure that’s the only reason he’s still alive.

* * *

“Agent Evergreen.” Robotnik spun around in his chair, turning away from the monitors, on one of which his kid could clearly be seen chasing the badniks around. Jade stood next to the Doctor, and Timber… Timber was in a folding chair, just staring at their kid on the screen. 

“As I’m _**sure** _you’ve realized, I can’t have you and Agent Timber working together for… oh, at _least_ a year, maybe five. Wouldn’t want to risk either of you suddenly getting angry at each other and remembering you’re **armed**. At the same time, I’ve decided I don’t _want_ you near me, Evergreen.”

The Doctor snapped his fingers and the quiet hum of badniks filled the air as they floated up from their docks and around Evergreen. Robotnik grinned and Evergreen swore he could hear the subtle sound of lasers charging up. But he kept his gaze on the Doctor, and only looked away when Robotnik’s eyes flicked to the side.

To Timber’s closed eyes and slow shake of his head.

Robotnik’s grin fell and he sighed loudly, almost dramatically as he snapped his fingers again and the hurricane of badniks around Evergreen stopped and returned to their docks. “It’s _really_ too bad I promised Avery I wouldn’t let you get misplaced. They’re a good kid, smart. Did you know they want to be just like _Uncle_ Rob when they grow up?”

Jade finally looked away from her tablet, uttered a simple, “Doctor,” and walked past Evergreen to leave. The Doctor waved a hand dismissively before slouching in his chair and leaning on that propped up hand.

“I’m retiring the names Evergreen and Timber, no other agents will be named that again. You’ll be my eyes on the outside now, a part of the _normal_ military, but you’re still on **my** leash, even if not on my payroll anymore. There’s a platoon that just got slaughtered from some... weapons testing _**no one**_ could have predicted, you’ll be instated as the sole remaining member of that group. You had been sick, _terribly_ so, and hadn’t seen your platoon in weeks, and you missed the testing. Lucky you. Even **luckier** that you got better so quickly after their deaths, you’ll be able to attend the funeral.”

Evergreen had never been as smart as Timber, but even he could see that his cover story was setting up for something, and it wasn’t looking good.

“In _fact_ , you’ll probably have a vendetta against the weapons that killed your platoon, maybe even become _overwhelmed_ with an urge to destroy them if you ever happen to see one unprotected.” Robotnik continued, humming thoughtfully.

Timber finally looked at him, and thankfully translated. “You’ll be on the outside reporting and destroying any Robotnik tech you find that’s been stolen. Other platoons will think you’re a coward for seemingly feigning illness to get out of military duty and no one will believe even your cover story. It’s a weak story on purpose, and while you’re still untouchable to a degree, if they draw and quarter you, you’re on your own. To see Avery, you have to come back to base to report, it’s not safe out there for them.”

The door opened behind him, and Evergreen turned to watch Jade roll in the mobile medical bay. He eyed those knives and shivered. None of the agents ever remembered what happened when they got the implants on their first day, and the Doctor never let anyone watch it happen. But almost everyone felt uneasy when they saw the set-up for at least a few seconds.

Timber got up, walked past the Doctor with a simple nod, and pat Jade on the shoulder, before he left the room. Jade stood at attention, blocking the door while the Doctor whistled a tune and the badniks woke up again. The Doctor set up the medical bay in the center of his control room and smiled when it was ready.

“Sit down. I have a few changes to make before I **allow** you to even _pretend_ to belong to someone else, Evergreen.”

He sat on the bed, immediately being hooked up to all sorts of things that slowly put him under. He still managed to hear the door open and close before he passed out.

For a second, he had full clarity and realized one thing. The reason why all the agents get unnerved when they see this contraption, is because, despite the knives and how they’re always obviously bloody afterwards, there’s never any sutures or healing cuts on their bodies when they wake up.

* * *

"Agent." Robotnik watched the screen, watched Jade pass off the still sleeping former agent to a pair of soldiers. He couldn't trust those soldiers a smidge, but he could trust Jade to memorize their faces and dispose of them as soon as Evergreen was in his new bed. In the meantime, here he was, watching the feed of one of his badniks, alongside Timber. 

On another screen, little Avery was sleeping after running around for hours, another agent had just checked on them and texted confirmation to Timber that his child was dreaming and not feigning sleep. The news did calm him down somewhat, but the Doctor knew his agent wasn’t calm enough, yet.

Still, Robotnik was uncertain about his decision, and needed his own confirmation.

“Agent Timber.”

The agent startled and turned wide eyes to his boss, before adjusting his slouching posture and askew uniform. “Yes, Doctor?”

“Are you _certain_ I can’t just kill Evergreen and be done with it? You know I’ve never liked your ex. I don’t think any of us liked him, actually. You had always fit in much easier. And having a living ex is just **so** troublesome.” Robotnik swayed his chair gently with a foot on the ground, the other foot tapped softly.

Timber took a minute to respond, watching his ex-husband be driven away, then watched Agent Jade get on her bike and start following from a distance. The screen changed to a satellite image, following the tracker left behind on Evergreen.

“It _would_ be easier…”

“ ** _Exactly!_ ** So just give me the word and Jade will add another target to her list.”

“Do you want to tell Avery their other dad died?”

The Doctor stopped texting, pausing before deleting the message without sending. The glare he sent Timber made the man smile for the first time in days without his child being nearby. “ _Must_ you ruin my fun, Tim?”

“I thought that was Jade’s job, Doctor.”

“Jade is occupied, **obviously** , so you’re my naysayer until someone else fills in.”

“Of course, Doctor…. I do need a break, shall I get Agent Stone?”

“Eh? I misplaced her last week. Aren’t you supposed to be good at noticing things, Timber?”

“I _did_ wonder why I hadn’t seen her in the mess hall. She was getting old, wasn’t she?”

“She could still beat Boulder in an arm-wrestling match, but no, I actually misplaced her. Her tracker shut itself off somewhere in Monte Carlo and I decided to let her have her retirement. She’s earned it, the old broad… forget you heard that.”

“Yes, Doctor.”


End file.
